Usually I write about Halloween and the scary art of negotiation but this year in honor of the imminent release of the sixth Vested book, Strategic Sourcing in the New Economy, (by Bonnie Keith, myself, Karl Manrodt, and Jeanne Kling), I thought I’d take a slightly different tack on the holiday. My question is simple. If you are searching for real value […]
For Innovation: Ask the Person
Innovation doesn’t have to be a mystery featuring secret words, cryptic corporate alchemy and magical thinking. It can be as simple as ATP: ‘ask the person’ doing the work. Communication is vital in every aspect of our personal and business lives, for collaboration, alignment and creating value—so why not when it comes to innovation? A […]
LinkedIn Pulse — September 2015
The Totally Avoidable St. Croix Bridge Fiasco LinkedIn Pulse article by Jeanne Kling published 24 September 2015. Here’s the link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/totally-avoidable-st-croix-bridge-fiasco-jeanne-kling?trk=prof-post
When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It
I’d like to take a moment to celebrate the wit, and wisdom, of baseball great and cultural icon Yogi Berra, who died on Tuesday at the age of 90. Berra had a unique perspective on life that some might think of as just a list of rambling, funny malapropisms. There was an element of the […]
Forbes — September 2015
Harness — Don’t Fight — Powerful Suppliers Forbes article by Kate Vitasek published on 21 September 2015. As buyers we often find ourselves in the unenviable position of having a supplier that we cannot live without, either because they’re the only provider of a product, service, or software application, or because the cost or risk […]
APQC Knowledge Base — Sept. 2015
Consider the Best Strategic Sourcing Model for Your Business Article by Kate Vitasek publish in APQC’s Knowledge Base on 17 September 2015. Research by the University of Tennessee has found that many, if not most, of the world’s most-used sourcing strategies are incomplete for modern procurement challenges. The way we think about procurement has its […]
It’s Feedback and Measurement
Feedback is always necessary no matter the project or situation, but there’s an important and often overlooked next step: what happens after the feedback? This point is brought home in a recent Harvard Business Review article, “Feedback Without Measurement Won’t Do Any Good,” in which MIT Research Fellow and author Michael Schrage writes: “People understandably invest significant time and […]
Innovation: It’s Not Just “More” or “Faster”
There are many paths to innovation. But far too many think it’s about just doing “more” of something. Or doing something “faster.” KLM understands the spirit of innovation is in thinking differently rather than trying to just improve an existing process or product. This YouTube video shows how the customer service team is innovating when it comes […]
An Oldie but Goodie: The Service Contract Manifesto
I ran across this great blog declaring the need for a Service Contract Manifesto. It’s a bit old (2008) but very good. The manifesto is a “declaration of customer-contractor interdependence.” In simple words it lays out some highly Vested conclusions: that “both sides want more,” and that both the buyer and the service provider “recognize the need for […]
Negotiation Wisdom from JFK
In a recent LinkedIn post Kees Van Der Vleuten, Director, KC MT Services, talks about the need to understand and use “expectation management” while embracing collaboration in the value chain. His well-said point is that by fully embracing collaboration—and measuring and monitoring the results of collaboration—“it is possible to achieve greater and more sustainable results […]
